Catalyst
by SilverZinogre
Summary: Read note, please!
1. Chapter 1

Omega studied the boy. He probably was a survivor from Gardil, judging by the few slight burns on him. If he was alone, he was doubtlessly an orphan. No one would miss him.

He smirked faintly—not from kindness—and opened a communication link. "I found a boy that looks about seven or so," he reported. "Gardil orphan, probably."

_"__Roger that,"_ a voice replied. _"Bring him in, Omega."_

* * *

When Dax woke up, the first thing he realized was that he wasn't in the old warehouse he had chosen to shelter in.

Instead, he was in a windowless room with linoleum-tile floor, in some building that smelled…well, _clean_, but unnaturally so.

He was also in a cage. The seven-year-old also heard a shuffling sound beside him, and he looked to see a girl that looked his age with blondish-brown hair and honey-brown eyes. "Hi," she greeted.

"Uh," he replied, staring. Whoever she was, she was _cute_.

She ignored his response, instead saying, "My name's Faye. What's yours?"

"Dax," he replied.

She smiled. "Nice to meet you. I'm from Axistown. And you?"

At that he looked at the floor. "Gardil," he muttered.

Faye frowned a bit—she had obviously heard what happened. "I'm sorry—I shouldn't've asked."

"I'm okay, though," he said, while sniffling a bit.

Suddenly the door opened, and a man wearing a white lab-coat came in. Faye immediately backed up—that alone gave Dax a warning.

The instant the man unlocked the crate, he immediately ran for it—this place scared him. "Someone catch it!" the man yelled.

Dax dashed around a few other people who also tried grabbing him. He had just about reached a door—when he felt someone grab the back of his shirt, at the collar.

He first gagged a bit, as it yanked against his throat, and he turned his head—and froze. Giving him a half-glare was a man with brownish-black hair and red eyes that were slit like a cat's. The look he was giving clearly said "don't move."

The man who had first tried catching Dax came up. "Good catch, Omega. As for _you_…" The Lowlander flinched when the man clouted him in the side of the head. "You're wanted in Lab 2."

He was dragged to said room, where a bespectacled man with blue eyes was waiting. "So this is it?"

"Yes Director."

The "Director" didn't say anything, instead picking up a syringe with a weird clear substance. Dax immediately tried fighting out of the grip the other man had on him—some instinct screamed at him that that stuff was _bad_.

It wasn't any use, however—he merely tightened his hold on him, and forced him to be still. Dax felt the prick of the needle, and watched the clear substance vanish from the syringe.

A few moments later, a pain worse than anything he'd ever felt sledgehammered him into complete and total unconsciousness.

* * *

_…__Dax? Are…? Wake…up!_

Dax's eyes opened fast, and he sat up. Faye was looking at him with worried eyes. "Faye?" he asked, voice hazy.

"You're okay!" she cheered.

"That's your friend?" an unfamiliar voice asked. Dax looked and saw a boy that looked like he was a teenager, with the same hair and eyes and Faye. Were they related?

Faye provided the answer: "That's my brother Lance." Dax blinked, and took another look at said guy. He also shared facial features with his sister.

The seven-year-old jumped when he heard yet another voice say, "Aww, you're so cute!" he whirled around to see a girl who looked Lance's age with black hair and periwinkle-blue eyes.

"That's Mary," a third voice said—belonging to another guy with brown hair and dark-amber eyes. He was wearing a black hoodie jacket that looked too big for him.

"Yeah," a fourth agreed. It was a thickset kid with black hair and brown eyes. There didn't seem to be anything different about him…at least, at first glance. Because when Dax looked closer, he saw that the guy had slightly-pointed teeth. Actually, all of them did. Like Faye.

Mary introduced them. "Wolfboy there is Terrence, and Weaselboy is Aleck. (Aleck muttered "Wolverine, not weasel," under his breath.) You're…Dax, right?" The boy nodded.

"What'd they do to you?" Terrence asked.

When Dax told them, he didn't know why all of them looked a mixture of sympathetic and worried.


	2. Chapter 2

He certainly knew why the others had looked that way after a week—it was definitely _the _most painful week of his life, and would definitely stay that way for the rest of his life.

The others had been speaking to him during that week. Sometimes he didn't hear one or two of them, and he had given it a few thoughts when whatever pain was hounding him let him think clearly. When it was finally over, he was alone. The other cages were all vacant.

Dax sat up, and stretched—he was horribly stiff. He frowned a little immediately after. What had that weird sensation been? Puzzled, he turned his head—and gasped, his eyes widening.

What in the world was that white thing—no, _things_ on his back? They looked like wings…

Dax looked up when the door opened. All that happened was that a scientist dumped Faye in her crate before leaving.

Upon seeing him, she exclaimed "You're awake!" happily.

"Uh-huh," he replied, still in shock. "Look."

Upon seeing his wings, her eyes went wide. "Lucky!" she shouted. "You're just like that Subject 3 or whatever his name is! Except he has feathers."

"Really?!"

The door opened again, cutting the conversation short. Except the scientist took Dax out this time. He was led down the hall to an open room, which had a few other scientists holding clipboards, pens, and paper—not to mention there was some important-looking guy with dark-colored eyes and black hair, wearing a uniform that hinted at him being in the military.

Also in the room was a teenager with brown hair and silver eyes…and wings. His feathers were gray as a storm cloud and rimmed with orange. He did a double-take upon seeing Dax's wings.

The scientist forced Dax to stand next to the teen with his wings spread before starting to speak.

Though Dax wanted to listen to what they were saying, the teen tapped him on the shoulder. The Lowlander looked at him. "You have wings too?" the teenager asked.

"Uh-huh," Dax replied.

"What's your name?"

"Dax."

The teen nodded a bit. "Mine's Daniel."

"Quiet you!" the scientist speaking snapped.

"If I may ask," the military-looking guy started. "What is the lifespan of these…hybrids?"

"Most, unfortunately, don't last long—the Hunters are lucky to live to their seventh year, Omega being the exception," the scientist replied immediately. "We aren't exactly sure about the avian hybrids yet, however…"

* * *

That was the only time Dax ever saw Daniel there. From what they heard, he had somehow escaped a few days later.

* * *

About two weeks went by. Dax figured that if the others hadn't been there, he would have completely lost it.

He also learned a little more about them—they were all from Axistown, and had been abducted while picking up Faye and Terrence's brother Jake from school.

Mary was a little erratic when it came to her personality, Terrence had a few anger issues, Lance was good with technology, and Aleck was honestly not the sharpest tool in the shed—but he made up for it in strength.

And then there was the one thing all five of them could do that always left him astounded: apparently the "scientists" had somehow made it possible for them to actually reform themselves into large animals; although it looked horribly painful, Mary said that it had only _really_ hurt for the first month or so.

They had started to worry about Faye, however. She was constantly being taken out, and always came back exhausted and nearly unconscious.

Then came the day when they were all brought to what was dubbed "the maze room."

* * *

Dax stumbled to a halt as the electronic ankle-brace unlocked. He knew from unfortunate experience that if he went too slow or stopped to catch his breath, it gave an electric shock.

There was also the risk of running over heated panels or razor wire—what made it worse was that they had to run the maze barefoot.

The others had gone already—it was Faye's run now. Two scientists stood by a screen, watching.

One minute passed. The man muttered something, and the woman's eyes narrowed a bit.

Two minutes. "Why won't it move?" the man asked. Lance went pale.

Three minutes—Faye still didn't come. "You don't think…?" the woman started.

Lance bolted back into the maze, the other hot on his heels, but before they could get there, the Hunters were there blocking their way.

They didn't even get to see her.

* * *

The five of them were immediately brought back to their cages.

Mary was sobbing, while Terrence was staring at the floor. Aleck wasn't saying a thing, as with Lance, who had a horrible blank look in his eyes. Dax was crying just as hard as Mary was—first he lost his parents, and now he lost one of his new friends!

* * *

The lights in the hall had long since gone off. Mary had finally stopped crying, and Dax was attempting the same.

"Faye didn't like seeing us cry," Aleck had simply said at one point.

Suddenly Mary clenched a fist, and extended a single claw before attempting to pick the lock of her crate. "Mary, we went over that idea already," Terrence said. "Your claws are too short."

"That was last month," she retorted—and no sooner did she finish her sentence did the lock click open. Fate at its cruelest.

Silence went on for a minute before Aleck said "Great timing," in a darkly-sarcastic tone.


	3. Chapter 3

The only thoughts that any of the five had involved getting _out _of the building. Which was accomplished within two minutes.

"Now what?" Aleck asked.

"Go home, I guess," Mary said with a shrug.

"Like this?!" Terrence exclaimed, exasperated. "We're mutant freaks!"

Dax blinked. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know how people would react to seeing his wings. Said limbs had gotten a lot fluffier, and if he moved the down feathers, he could barley see other feathers starting to poke through his wing skin—they were also very itchy.

Lance then spoke up. "I can't go home without Faye." His tone was completely hollow.

Mary sighed after a few moments. "You're right…but, what'll we do?"

"I dunno—something," Terrence said. "Hey birdkid, you coming?" Dax was quiet for a bit. Then he slowly shook his head.

The other four looked at him. "You sure?" Aleck asked.

"Uh-huh." He didn't know why, but he felt like he was supposed to…wait for something.

The four teens looked at each other. "Promise you'll be careful?" Mary asked finally.

"Promise."

"Okay…but can you at least come with us to the nearest town?"

"Okay."

* * *

The nearest town was called Lycia. The other four had caught a bus, so Dax was alone.

Again.

First thing he did in the morning was find some new clothes—as his current ones were badly torn, stained, and smelled like old blood. His new outfit consisted of a dark-blue shirt and a pair of grayish-brown shorts.

Second thing to do was find food—he was absolutely _starving_. The only problem was that he didn't have any money, which meant he was going to have to steal.

There was a guy selling apples on the street. Silently Dax crept up behind the cart, and when the guy was talking to someone, Dax swiftly took two, dashing away.

* * *

A week passed. Dax had found a small cave under a ledge overhang that shielded him from both eye and element about a half-mile out of town.

His new feathers had finished coming in—dark-brown r black (he couldn't tell which) with tiny silver specks that seemed to gleam in the light, like stars.

_Faye loved stars,_ he thought sadly. The fox hybrid had always gone on about the night sky.

He looked at his wings. Fully spread, they were about three feet long each. The question was…could he fly? He had never gotten a chance to ask Daniel.

Which meant he'd have to find out for himself.

Dax climbed up to the top of the ledge. It was only four or so feet up, so it wouldn't hurt too much if he fell. He'd probably end up twisting his ankle or something, though. But he couldn't worry about what _might _happen.

Taking a deep breath, he spread his wings, and jumped, flapping like crazy. He stayed in the air for a whole ten seconds before he lost what air he had.

But he had at least been hovering. Which meant it was indeed possible for him to fly. He climbed back up, and this time took a running jump.

Worked like a charm.

He felt a smile come up as he attempted to move forward through the air. He was actually flying! _If only mom and dad could see me…_

* * *

**~Nine Years Later~**

Nothing beat catching a thermal at eight in the evening in the spring. They wouldn't last long, since it was cloudy, and Dax could smell rain coming. Not to mention the sun was going down.

Doing a few odd-jobs in Lycia had allowed him to earn enough to buy some new clothes when circumstances required. As of now, he was wearing a red shirt and tan-colored pants, as well as a black jacket and a blue beanie hat.

A low rumble of thunder sounded, and he gave a quick glance to the sky above him. He had already nearly been struck by lightning once while flying, and it wasn't something he ever wanted to repeat.

So he went in for a landing in a slightly-sandy clearing at the base of a cliff. Dax very nearly jumped right back into flight mode when a voice with a hissing undertone said, "Excellent landing."

He would recognize those bright-green slit eyes anywhere—a Hunter. Transformed, even.

"Been awhile since I saw one of your ugly mugs," Dax said.

'The Hunter snarled and lunged. The Lowlander whirled and tried dashing for it—only to feel the Hunter's claws slice into his right wing. He bit back a curse, and promptly turned and gave the Hunter a jumping kick to the snout. He was out cold immediately.

Dax winced, and looked at his wing. It was bleeding quite a bit. Definitely wouldn't be able to fly with that.

He groaned. _Guess I'm walking._

* * *

Of course, it had started pouring. So now Dax was hurt, soaking wet, and absolutely miserable. The rain had turned the gray dust of a soil layer into wet, sticky gray clay mud which stuck to his shoes and pants when he slipped. He couldn't fold his injured wing either—it hurt too much, even though the rain was numbing it a little. The Hunter might've had some type of poison or something on his claws…which was a common weapon, as they were part snake after all.

But was his bad luck done there? Not by a long shot.

As he was walking along a ledge, some of the mud just so happened to shift, causing him to slide all the way down.

It only got worse when he heard someone ask "Are you alright?" Dax's head snapped up, and he saw the source of the voice: it was a gray-eyed black-haired man wearing a pale-blue shirt with a white collar under a green vest, and was wearing simple grayish-black pants.

"I'm fine," Dax replied, standing up and folding his right wing, despite it hurting really, _really _bad as he did so.

Apparently it showed on his face, though, as the man asked "Are you sure?" Dax noticed that his gaze was on the ground, and when he glanced, he saw that some of his wingblood had dripped onto the ground.

He was as good as cornered.

The question was…could he trust this man?

* * *

The boy abruptly turned to look at Jeredy squarely in the eyes. The scientist couldn't help but flinch a bit—he had never seen that sort of look in anyone's eyes, let alone those of a _teenager_.

"Who are you, anyways?" the teen asked, tone thick with wariness.

He replied. "Jeredy. What's yours?"

The boy hesitated a bit before saying "Dax."

Jeredy smiled a little. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Dax. You wouldn't happen to know which way Lycia is from here, would you?"

He pointed. "Out that way, but there's no way you'd make it before nightfall. It gets pitch-black out here, and there are cougars." A quick pause. "My place is close to here," he said slowly after looking around a bit.

Indeed it was. Jeredy was a little surprised—and startled—to see that it was a simple cavern under a ledge which had two coolers and a sleeping bag in it. "You live here?"

"Yeah," Dax replied.

Jeredy wanted to ask, but he decided against it. Instead he asked, "How did you get hurt?"

"Cougar." Dax's reply was suspiciously quick, but Jeredy didn't worry about it. Instead he took some bandages and antibiotic from his bag.

"Where did you get hurt?" he asked.

"Ah…" Dax honestly looked very anxious now, if not scared. Then he took a deep breath, and said, "Look old man, I'm not really what you'd call _normal_…"

Cue confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

Dax didn't say anything in response. Jeredy then noticed something behind the teen move, and, curiosity getting the better of him, he went around to look.

At first it merely looked like a clump of feathers, which was bemusing enough. Only when the feathers _moved _did Jeredy realize he was looking at a wing.

Immediately about a hundred questions that he wanted to ask raced through his mind, but he found he was unable to speak. He heard himself say in a surprisingly calm tone, "Dax, why do you have wings?" The look on Dax's face in response wasn't a reassuring one.

And neither was the story that came out.

Starting with the destruction of Gardil City and the death of his parents, being abducted, forcibly mutated (the thought of it being enough to make the scientist feel ill), the fox-girl Faye's apparent death, and then the escape afterwards.

No wonder he had been so fiercely defensive at first. But why had his attitude towards him suddenly changed?"

There was one question that Jeredy wanted to know the answer to. "Dax, can you…fly?"

The answer came quickly, accompanied by a small smirk. "Yeah."

Silence for a bit. Then Jeredy said, "You know, I have a son that's about your age."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And—I know this is a little sudden, but…think you could help me with something?"

Dax gave him a look. "Like what?"


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, the two went their separate ways. Dax gathered all the food and water that he could fit in a bag that Jeredy gave him, along with his sleeping bag. He likely wouldn't be coming back to Lycia for a long time.

Dax glanced at the blue cylindrical object Jeredy had given him. Airswitch, he had called it. _So I just…spin it out?_

He did as such. The core, as it was called, collided with a tree in a flash of blue light. When it subsided, Dax gawked. It looked mostly like a bird, except it had four wings—and four eyes, too. It screeched before regarding him, lowering its head so it was eye-level with him.

Dax smiled a bit before saying, "I guess we're both kind of freaky-looking," while spreading his own wings a little bit.

* * *

The next month and a half consisted of lots of traveling. Dax kept to walking when in urban areas and flying when there was no town or city near. At one point he found himself back in the Lowlands, in Sanctuary City—the name was very misleading. He'd also rented a motorcycle. Yeah he didn't know how to drive it really, but he'd been doing fine at figuring it out.

Things got a little weird while he was having lunch. First he felt the unpleasant sensation of hot ramen splashing onto the back of his jacket. He heard someone exclaim "Oh, sorry! Sorry!" in a high-pitched tone. "It wasn't my fault! That bowl came out of nowhere!" Whoever it was then tried to dry his jacket with a napkin. Cue instinctive nervousness.

"Wrong move, bandito," he said. "You must be new to the Lowlands…if you're gonna put your hands on someone, you better be sure you can kick their butt first."

Another voice cut in: "I don't think that's gonna be a problem."

Dax turned to look at them now. Four people—three guys, one girl. "I'm gonna do you and your little friends a favor," the avian-hybrid continued. "And let you walk out of here while you still can."

"Hey, who're you calling little?" the girl asked.

"Come on now you two," the chef said in a worthless attempt to derail any fighting. "We don't want no trouble."

The Lowlander reached for his pocket. "If you _must_ know, I won this thing off a crazy old man." He showed his core. "He came around here a couple of weeks ago, babbling something about monsters and the fate of the world."

"Chase, that sounds like your dad!" he heard the boy wearing glasses—also the one who had spilled the ramen on him—said. "Apart from the _old_ part, I mean…and the _crazy_ part." He ranted a bit. "Although come to mention it, he _is _a bit strange…" He was cut off when the girl went up and punched his shoulder. "Youch!"

"So you think you're pretty tough, don't you?" she asked.

He replied. "Princess, around here there's only two ways to be: tough, or toast."

Dax smirked upon seeing her reaction. "_Princess_?" she repeated. "Oh that does it!" She threw a punch at him—but impulse kicked in and he twisted her arm back. She hissed in a breath, and he loosened his grip slightly—if he had gone any tighter, he probably would've broken her arm.

"You oughta put a leash on your cat," he said.

The black-haired boy took out a core of his own, which surprised him again. _Maybe that's the old man's son…_

"Take your hands off my friend," the other, _normal_ teen growled. "_Right—now_."

And so it began.


	5. Note!

**Okay, question.**

**Should I make this into an anthology (one-shot series) based on Sky?**

**Also, I changed a few rather important details in "Sky", so I recommend re-reading it...otherwise you'll be very confused when I finally get around to the next chapter.**


End file.
